Anemic (Warriors 84, Knicks 89)

There are limits to Stephen Curry’s heroics. The Warriors finally discovered them on Sunday night against the Knicks. Unfortunately for Mark Jackson, there are some inadequacies that even the expansiveness of Curry’s brilliance can’t cover up. After scoring 32 points on 53% shooting in the first quarter, the Warriors fell apart offensively. Over the next three quarters, they shot 24%, 36% and 29% against one of the NBA’s softest defenses. In the second half, Curry outscored his teammates 22-18. While this easily could have been a win with Lee and/or Bogut healthy, that excuse shouldn’t provide any comfort. The Warriors’ anemic offensive performances persist, and Jackson still doesn’t seem to have any answers.

The most frustrating part of the Warriors’ sputtering offense is the sense that it doesn’t have to be this way. Klay Thompson spends the first quarter penetrating at will against the Knick’s defense, then shoots 3-13 for the rest of the game on mostly perimeter jumpers. Harrison Barnes keeps shooting the same fade away that he’s missed all season long — because Mark Jackson keeps calling the same play that forces him either to face up and penetrate (bad news given his ball-handling) or step back and shoot (worse news given his jump shooting). The one Warrior with an offense game that doesn’t depend on jumpers — Jermaine O’Neal — shoots 3-4 in the first quarter, then gets only 3 more shots for the rest of the game and 0 attempts in the game’s final 15 minutes. Andre Iguodala keeps getting the ball in the paint with relatively open looks at the basket — and then passes the ball back out to the three-point line. Steve Blake gets off one shot in 12 second-half minutes. None of this is new. All of it is correctable with coaching and/or play-calling.

I’d love to know what the Warriors game-plan was for picking apart the Knick’s listless, forgiving defense. There are signs that it was good in concept, given the mix of penetration, ball movement and early offense that we saw in the first quarter. But where did that aggressive and attacking offense go? When the Warriors went more than 2 minutes without scoring, giving up a 15-0 run to close the second quarter, where was Mark Jackson to pull the emergency break and reset his team? There was one timeout called during that run: by the Knicks, with 6 seconds left, to set-up a final play that was ultimately successful. NBA basketball is a game of adaptations — forcing them from your opponents and making them yourself. The Warriors’ game-plans are increasingly brittle, liable to break with the first exertion of pressure. They’ve lost game after game like this one to opponents that at least on paper, are inferior, because the Warriors often seem incapable of putting their players in a position to play to their strengths. We’ve seen the wins against the Heat, the Thunder, the Clippers and the Pacers when the Warriors live up to lofty expectations. It’s those performances that make games like this one so inexplicable.

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Would David Lee and Andrew Bogut have made all the difference? They likely would have been enough to get the Warriors a win, which would have relieved some of the pressure on Jackson. But even with both healthy, the Warriors’ offense has struggled for long stretches of the season. Lee remains a key offensive piece, but has been increasingly limited as his jumper has failed him. When he can take slower players off the dribble, he can be incredibly effective. But when he’s matched up against more athletic players with decent size, he’s a blocked shot waiting to happen. When Curry is blitzed with defenders, limiting his ability to execute the pick-and-roll, Lee has even more difficulty finding his shot. As for Bogut, other than a few one-off lobs and cleaning up trash around the basket, he remains a complete afterthought on offense. Ultimately, just because a healthy Lee and/or Bogut would have made the Warriors good enough to beat the Knicks doesn’t mean much in the big picture. The Warriors won’t have the good fortune of meeting New York’s defense in the first round of the playoffs.

As has been the case all season, there are some silver linings in the dark clouds of these games. Andre Iguodala and Draymond Green played tremendous defense against tough assignments. Iguodala held Anthony to 7-21 shooting, getting a hand in his face — if not on the ball — on nearly every jumper. Green was matched up again against a bigger player — Stoudemire — and gave up some early buckets. But as with Randolph in the Memphis game, Green dug in and adjusted to frustrate his assignment. Amare’s 15 points were far from efficient (5-14 shooting, 4 turnovers). On offense, Iguodala showed more aggressiveness pushing the ball and penetrating. While he didn’t get all the way to the rim to convert, he started getting to the line (a game-high 10 attempts).

And, of course, there was Curry. He seemed to have a lifeline every time the Warriors looked as if they were slipping under for good. I don’t hold the final botched possession against him — the Warriors wouldn’t have been there in the first place without him hitting on similar difficult looks. When the game comes down to one shot, there’s no one I’d rather have with the ball in his hands. It’s all the other possessions before that last shot where I wish Jackson would try new ways of getting everyone else on the team involved. The Warriors’ playoff opponent will be ready for Curry. But the rest of the Warriors don’t look ready to help carry the load.

Adam Lauridsen

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the game plan seemed a good one with players penetrating, only to have the players forget what made them tick to open the game. ric reports that in the second half coach reminds them to penetrate so seems to me the players (other than andre) and their coaches on the floor forgot what was working for them/had been the plan.
JON 3 for 4 early then 3 more attempts the rest of the game and 0 in the last 15? again, where are the playmakers on this club? i know it must be a fine line for curry to do when he’s the one clicking with his shot, but between him and steve and andre i would think there are enough savvy playmakers out there to get him the ball.
where we differ is the final possession, for which i do hold him accountable. not in any malicious way, just is what it was plus green’s momentary slip up. but it still seemed to me he had a chance to hoist one while drawing a foul. i don’t think he had a clean look, but he imo had a chance to draw three foul shots with a defender coming at him backwards and sideways with an arm fully extended (though not sure about the new rule this year where some of those jumping into the arm of the defender shots are not whistled as fouls – but maybe our star gets that call?)

Chris L

“We don’t look at what cost us the game offensively,” Jackson said.

rigged

Phil Jax will call the play himself if he sees that his five needs to get a basket.

sartre

You perfectly captured the sense of déjà vu, Adam.

With the depleted team now facing quite possibly 3 straight defeats with the tough road b2b Lacob might lead the Oracle crowd in serenading MJ with the Bowie/Mercury “Under Pressure”.

sartre

strum, perhaps you’ve not noticed the guy on the sidelines shouting plays to Curry, Blake, and Iguodala as they bring the ball up in half court offense? And how those calls so often are for iso and other plays that have repeatedly been shown to be low efficiency options for the player asked to execute the shot? The problem isn’t so much the lack of open shots the Dubs primary and secondary play-makers create for their mostly offensively limited teammates. Curry alone playing off or on the ball attracts so much defensive attention and anxiety that the opportunity for effective motion offense is near ever present when he is on the court. It is the absence of a discernible system or a play book that is tailored to take into account how best to get more efficient offense out of the supporting cast that is so striking.

RickP

Hard to know where to being, but …
Vorped tracks shot location within the last 30 days. Blake has taken 27 3s and only 1 shot within the paint, below the foul line.
I looked that up because I noticed that he doesn’t penetrate. In fact, he’s taken only 15 2 point shots in that time.
He’s shot 38% on 3s, so you can see why he may prefer that shot — it’s better than his 50% on 2s. But, what about drawing the defense and then passing to an open man?
There are lots of reasons the bench isn’t very good,and maybe this is one reason why Blake isn’t making the bench all that much better.

Thurston Hunger

With the “Anemic” headline I thought Adam you might pick Klay’s bloody nose (;>) as a turning point. I think he only hit 1 three pointer after that. Missing that open look to tie late in the game when Steph ran with him and gave him a soft twohand underhand pass in rhythm, that should be money. Especially with the recent emergence of Killer Klay.

You did mentioned one huge positive, AI taking 10 FT’s. Too bad on the not finishing, but he seems like he’s on the verge of resurging. Just put Barnett’s brain in his body (I think JB’s voice carried across the court on the one three AI hit). But overall Iguadola seems to be on a good trend, and ideally a rested and recovered Lee and Bogut will be as well. AI’s defense as you and others mentioned, was very good.

Speaking of D, so the Knicks were NOT going to foul on that last shot? I think many sure would have, at least on the catch. Steph did say next time he’d shoot that ball, but he was very good both ways tonight. I thought the W’s might look to get it back to AI on that play. I hope the play was called out, with all the options, but not so sure.

Barnes, almost sadder than the loss, it was another lost opportunity for him. Reminds me of Bazemore when he knew he was missing his (not well conceived) chance at running the W’s back-up point. I’m not a twitteree but some of the Bogut + Barnes camaraderie off court was nice to see, sure like to see them work more together on the offensive game.

Yes, the second quarter cost the game and JR Smith can shoot you into some leads, although I’m curious if he sticks around during the PJax era there.

I think a big factor during that 22 point swing, and a general issue for the second unit, is the W’s need Blake to crank up his Steve Nash impersonation to get the ball and people moving. I wonder if he is too focused on not having turnovers, or if indeed the ISO’s are called in from the sideline. But the second unit has looked at its best when Blake is moving around the court with the ball.

Honestly the first unit looks at its best as well when this happens.

I look forward to seeing a full game where the W’s have multiple guys moving on a play, and screens for not-just-Steph-and-Klay off the ball, with other guys slashing from the baseline or weakside as someone drives to the basket. We’ve seen flashes of it, and that I think will be a big step up towards consistency.

Thurston Hunger

Rick an excellent pull.

In my post-game ramble I see that as a huge drop-off with the second unit. And if MJax is calling for those Harrison/Crawford/JON iso’s instead of trusting Blake to get things moving, that’s a bad mistake for a point guard coach.

And the threes, at least some of them come from the ISO failing the ball kicked out and Blake having to hoist to beat the clock.

Look forward to seeing this aspect of the second team’s game get fixed. Also if the last games of the season do matter, would like to see the stagged Klay/Steph substitutions such that they are both rarely off the floor together.

Greg438

It was the Knicks and while I think Woodson is a decent coach, his current team has a lot of quit in them. If you’re the W’s (or, my gosh, even this year’s version of the Lakers) you move the ball rather than focus on ISO’s and get them down early. Seriously, the Lakers put up 51 in a quarter against them. There is “determined” and there is “stubbornly foolish” and everyone can judge for themselves which best describes the W’s game plan tonight. I get that they can miss shots… but the story is pretty clear that if you move the ball against these Knicks, you don’t have to live and win off of jump shots, especially when you d holds them well within reason.

While Klay has been wildly inconsistent this season, what is consistent is the non-production of Dre and HB. Sure they both contribute in other ways but after Lee and Curry, there is no one else who can shoulder the offensive load. It will be no secret how opponents will defend the W’s, similar to the last play last night when Curry found two defenders on him. I’ve always contended that it takes three players to have good offensive games for the W’s to win. It amazed me last night that the W’s were so close at the end with only one player having a productive night. It speaks to the high level defensive effort that the W’s were still in the game. However, most teams in the playoffs will also have quality defenses.

So where will the points come from? For those who still hold out any hope that MJax will run plays for Bogut or ‘weaponize’ him, it’s not going to happen. Unless HB picks up his game in the next few weeks, don’t look for him to get much run in the playoffs unless there are injuries. Klay will continue shooting and driving and hopefully can string together some good outings. DLee can be counted on for 16-24 points every night. I really believe the key is Dre. He needs to stop deferring to other players, stop shooting from the outside, and use his smarts and athleticism to get to the rim and foul line. The new book is out on him and it’s that he want to be a distributor, not a scorer. The best thing he could do for Curry and Klay would be to attack the rim and force defenders to follow him deep into the paint with the threat of scoring.

Sadly, the second team looked awful last night and cost us the lead and ultimately the game. I’ve been a MJax supporter most of the year but there is no excuse for making wholesale substitutions and allowing them to squander the lead. A leaky faucet needs to be turned off before it becomes a flood! Crawford is the player we all thought he was. Some nights he could be incredible and other nights he could be Bazemoresque. The risk is too great to play him at length. I’m actually impressed with the play of MS. Seems like after the AS break, he stopped settling for the mid-range jumper and he’s taking the ball into the paint. The results haven’t been terrific but I’m glad he’s playing better D and getting rebounds.

So, my point is, we can’t rely on the bench to get us through the playoffs and other than Lee and Curry, it’s time for at least one of these three: Klay, Dre/HB to become consistent scorers or this team is one and done. And MJax along with them.

San Joser

The most damning statistic of the game: Steph Curry, 1 assist

flaninerfan

Some ramblings. I hope all these bad losses do not add up to a ninth place finish. Anyone think the Spurs with the same injuries would have lost? Or Popovich would have allowed a 15-0 run with out a timeout? I remember the last game against them the Spurs had a comfortable lead and the W’s scored “four” points. Pops called a TO sensing a W’s run and the crowd getting into it. Maybe Scalabrine was demoted because he was critical of how the offense runs (or does not)?

coltraning

twas an awful loss. Many excellent points by Adam. Can’t quarrel. This was a game where Jackson’s offensive scheme deserved major critiques, as well as his reluctance to call a time out. Crawful was Crawful again, and I was astonished that he Mjax sat stoically on the bench as Crawful singlehandedly shot the Knicks back in the game in a 7 minute span. Barnes? Do not know what to say. Obviously, with their second-best scorer and their best 2 rebounders the Ws would have won the game, but they certainly should have won this one. Ironically, because both Memphis and Phoenix lost (to the lakers!) the Ws are in better shape playoff-wise than before last night. The silver lining I see is they rise to the occasion against strong teams, so I won’t be shocked if they do well in the playoffs, but let’s face it, missing 2 of their 5 best players and their 2 best rebounders, it’s not going to be easy…hopefully Lee/Bogut return for the RT…

Richard Andersen

As Chris implied, the problem is indicated by another one of Mjax’s inane postgame statements: “We don’t look at what cost us the game offensively,” As Sartre points out, the obvious lack in this team is the lack of a consistent team-oriented offensive system, based on body and ball movement, attacking the paint, and pushing it in transition. Last night, the Warriors did a bit of all this in the 1st quarter, building a nice lead in the process. Then the bench came in in the 2nd quarter and immediately went into iso after iso, I think about 6 in a row. This got them behind, as the Warriors offensive misses helped the Knicks to push it and they built up that quick lead at halftime. Even after the first team got back in, they followed the same old tired formula of depending on one-on-ones and perimeter shooting (mostly by Curry with everyone else standing around) and walking the ball up the court for the rest of the game.

What’s most telling about Mjax.s postgame statement is that he doesn’t see the problem. If you don’t see the problem you’ll never fix it. Once again, I just don’t see how you can keep this coach on if he doesn’t even see the problem, unless management tells him flat out what the problem is and then tells him to either fix it or hit the road. It’s hard to imagine Lacob doesn’t see the problem because analysts around the league have nailed it again and again, and any good basketball man (which he supposedly is) would spot it. And if Lacob does see it, why hasn’t he forced Mjax to change the style of play or hit the road.

I’m actually glad they didn’t come back at the end to win this game. Winning would have given them false confidence in a style of play that will never give you consistent success, especially in the playoffs. If you play the wrong way you deserve to lose; maybe that will help the coach and team realize they have to change their style of play. Of course it hasn’t so far after other similar losses earlier this year, so I’m not holding my breath.

I sure wish the Spurs or the Bulls were my team because they play the right way. Unfortunately I grew up as a Warriors fan around Philly in the 50s, and I can’t seem to shake the identification with this team. It’s a big burden to carry.

coltraning

dunno, Sartre. While I agree that this was a game the Ws should have won and Jackson bears a lot of responsibility for the offensive sets or lack thereof, the fact is also that the Ws missed many wide open shots, to the tune of shooting 35% for the game. The team outrebounded the knicks despite no Bogut or Lee, got to the line more, got 6 more blocks, etc. The telling stat to me was 1 assist for Curry and only 14 for the team. But the players bear some major responsibility, with poor shooting on open looks from every player not named Curry. It felt very much like the Wizards and bobcats games. The defense was excellent, but the shooting was godawful. I agree that Jax needs to insists on better ball movement, but ultimately, if players are missing open looks they normally make, that is on them. Unless you live in the land of Thibs or Pacers, anytime you hold a team to 40% shooting and 89 points and you outrebound them, you should win…

ah well, such is life. On to Texas, a place which would prompt me to put on my tombstone “on the whole, I would rather be in Dallas”

Richard Andersen

Forgot to mention: Once again the incompetent nba refs embarrassed themselves in the Knicks game. There were 3 different fouls called on Iguoudala on Carmello, which obviously weren’t fouls (2 times when Iggy swiped and the ball and didn’t hit anything and another time when he went straight up and Carmello caused the contact). Take away all those foul line points from Carmello and the Warriors probably win the game. They wouldn’t have deserved to win, but they probably would have. It’s a real tragedy that the incompetence of nba refs can decide important games.

ledocs

I had noticed that Steve Blake, during his tenure with the Lakers, was virtually no threat to finish at the rim. In order for him to finish at the rim, it has to be wide open, or there has to have been a blown assignment. So even when he gets near the rim, he’s looking to pass, and any team that has a scouting report, which presumably is every NBA team, knows this. Since he has lost the habit of trying to finish, passing off of penetration becomes more difficult for him, simply because defenders are playing the pass.

Secondly, Blake doesn’t take many midrange jumpers. Almost all of his offense is on standing still three-pointers. You put all of this together and he’s not much of a creator, but he has had some high assist-per-minute games with the W’s. My guess is that a lot of the assists came on the down-screen curl plays or other set plays where he hit a shooter in stride. Those plays get harder and harder to make in the playoffs, because of the officiating and the scouting.

I don’t remember Blake having these limitations in Portland, but perhaps I was just not paying attention. He was an upgrade on Toney Douglas.

playdefense

Agreed.. however, Steph can’t get an assist if no one else on the team can hit a basket. The rest of the team shot 31%, which also hurts chances for getting assists.

coltraning

BTW, I checked and sure enough, this is the only game this year where Steph had only one assist. A commentary on how the ball was not moving and also on how woeful the non-Curry Warriors were shooting: 18-58. Also, Steph must take some responsibility for that, since Dre got 6 of the Ws 14 assists, so there were assists to be had. When no other Warrior has it going on, it becomes rather easy to defend the Ws, esp. when he is not having a good passing night. Plenty of justified critiques of Jax vis-a-vis offensive schemes, but when the ball is sticking, not moving, some of that is on Steph, as 1 assist will testify. The team took great care of the ball, as 10 TOs for the whole game bears witness, but not at the expense of moving the ball. I’d rather see a line of 24 assists and 15 TOs than 14 assists and 10 TOs. As for Steph on nights like this? Just stick to him like glue, ala the last play, since no one else is going to come through.

Ironic that it appears the Ws offense is the problem, as the defense and rebounding continue to excel…very different warriors squad than we have been used to watching since Nellie came to town…

playdefense

Barnes was really, really frustrating last night.

But for Dre, while he hasn’t been consistent, I actually found his drives very promising last night. Not to mention the fact that he actually made 9-10 FTs. He needs to do that regularly though. Maybe a test run for him to prepare the playoffs?

Klay’s been like this all year. Hot and cold. He looks much improved when he drives now too, but he seems to forget about it. It’s possible they try to clamp down on him defensively too, but I can’t imagine it’s worse than what teams scheme for Curry.

No excuse for MJax at all. The only thing I could think of is that he thought they’d shake out of it against a bad team on their own, but that’s obviously a very, very flawed assumption and not good coaching when we let them drop 15 on us, or go dead on offense for several minutes straight.

Jeff

stop blaming the refs when the warriors shot terribly with no offensive gameplan other than let curry save us. we played bad. didn’t deserve to win. as Mark Jackson says after every loss, this will make us better….NOT

playdefense

Hey Col, good to see ya (here). One thing though: Dre got most of his assists playing alongside Curry. So, of those 6 assists, some may have actually been to Curry, or been possible through Curry’s distracting the Knicks. I certainly don’t pin this loss on Steph.

Actually, I took my son out to see Steph on Saturday for this “Kids vs. Pros” event that Curry was at. To me, I was impressed that he could help beat the Grizz, come out on Saturday to mix it up with Kids for this Capri Sun event and then basically be the only offense in last night’s event.

It’s true though, the Knicks could really hone in on Steph last night. Still, I saw the positives include Iggy’s free throw attempts (and MAKES! surprise..) and decent rebounding. No one seems to note that Klay also had 0 assists as the other guard. I’m glad Klay is confident, but shooting 3-11 3PTers is just as painful, when people cited the drive and dumps for what seemed to be make-able threes…

Painful loss..

Our Team

Barnes (and Klay?) needs a sports psychologist.

playdefense

With you on that one. Love those guys to death and Klay has at least shown signs of life in more recent games. Poor Barnes though.. not sure what is going on in there..

strummer

while that is true, the flip side of that coin is get the guys easier looks inside, especially if capable of driving drawing and dishing, which he is.

strummer

I would love to know what it is that Scalabrine sees differently than MJ. I like the guy and from interviews i have heard him in, wouldn’t be surprised to find him at the helm of a club someday, perhaps even with the Ws.

GSWFan

Without structure offense, without a fast pace running offense, it is difficult to snap out of shooting slump in an offense focusing on iso. Unless HB becomes Carmelo 2, posting and shooting without conscience as a bench or secondary player is a tough way to shake off the slump.
W are committed to playing defense and staying home for defensive rebounding, giving up on fast breaks and early offense, so there has to be plays call for HB to do something else other than iso, probably not going to happen with MJ, at least not this year.

strummer

The thing about Crawford that bugs me is that he was good in boston, where he got consistent playing time. here he does not get that. some players need minutes to get in rhythm and also need to know that they will be out there consistently so they don’t try to do too much in very limited minutes. what i don’t get is when he was brought on board they saw him as playing the same role that Jack played, i.e. 4th quarter time to help generate offense and as an added ball handler. and yet, he more often than not bridges only the 1st and 2nd quarters, even in games where it is Klay that arguably “singlehandedly shot the knicks back in the game”, at least more so than JC did. this is my major quibble with the coaching staff: i see Crawford as a mis-used weapon.

playdefense

I get what you’re saying, but HB has also missed wide-open shots and bungled up turnovers that had nothing to do with coaching.

MJax may indeed be part of the prob, but smart players find ways to contribute. It hasn’t always been post-ups for HB.

Yesterday, he got his pocket picked trying to drive on a face-up, for example. I’m still hopeful he can grow out of it, but the guy is in a slump that he has to at least partly own.

playdefense

If SJ’er is showing evidence of total lack of ball movement, I’m on board. But if we’re saying that this is Curry’s fault, I’m not.

Again, the ‘flip side’ is pretty clear on the drive-and-dish, but if he drives and dishes to the corner for a wide-open three and that person (e.g. Klay) misses? It’s just a miss with no additional stat.

That’s why I almost wish they did record what I call “AK’s” (Assist Kill). If a guy bungles a wide-open jumper or a lay-up, it’s hard to swallow.

Tired

OK, haven’t read all the posts about this game, but for me the one thing that sort of sums up the whole season of coaching by Jax and why he is NOT playoff ready is that he did NOT call a time out at the end of the first half when the Ws went from winning to losing in the course of a couple of minutes.

He just didn’t want to use a time out. Save it for later? How much damage could be done?

Just wait for the buzzer. Oops, a steal. oops a bad pass. Oops a dumb shot. Lather, rinse , repeat. The KNicks smelled blood and the carnage began.

This is what lost the game for us. With all the other bad stuff that happened, the game was basically even. Then the end of the first half. The game falling apart. The team in one of it’s helter skelter destructo modes- and no time out to stop it.
Sorry jax, that was just about as dumb as it can get at this point in the season, and your career.

Want to be known as a great coach? Don’t do that. Add that to your list.

Tired

it is sad….

strummer

i don’t see the drive and dish as throwing to the 3 point line as much as dishing off to a big underneath after his man has slid over to help defend the penetrator. monta used to do the former a lot and baron the latter. give me the latter! though i understand the temptation to get it to klay, seeing as how he can be a 3 point maker machine, but on nights when he’s off? if i’m the coach on the floor, i huddle with my guys and tell them what plan b, as in baron, will be.

Tired

And yes, the other big thing is how the Ws managed to miss so many shots. Easy shots.

I’m sick of watching the Ws get to the basket or to a spot on the floor and then just throw up a shot in the general direction of the basket. this happens on layups all the time. it just looks to me like they aren’t concentrating right to the end of the shot. I can understand the throw it up thing to get a foul, but we are missing 3 foot jump shots.

Hey, if you are open, take the shot. Do it with conviction. Don’t seem so surprised that the shot is there. What is with all these half-assed shots? No, the ball isn’t guaranteed to go in if you get it on the rim. It could just as easily roll off the rim. Is this hard to understand? Am I being too critical?

Why do you look so nervous to get the shot off? Why do you all look like you are in a hurry to do something instead of being in a flow?

Finish the darn layup.

playdefense

Totally agree. It’s unacceptable to not try and break-up the opponent’s momentum on a long run.

Looking back at that second quarter, the Knicks frontline didn’t even play much into that offensive burst they had. J.R. Smith, Hardaway Jr., and Prigioni lit us up like crazy. The weird part is, we had Iggy, Klay, Curry and Draymond all on the floor at the end of that quarter and still got torched.

Tired

We gave the game away, right then.

playdefense

Seems viable. Especially with– as Adam said– JON playing pretty well. He was a RB machine.

I dunno though — Curry was on, so I have no qualms with him taking more shots when he feels it. It didn’t work for the final shot unfortunately (which would only have tied the game).

I definitely think there should’ve been some huddle/time-out/plan/rebuttal though.

Again, mainly in that second quarter. That was the only quarter we actually lost. And it was enough to completely derail us sadly.

Chris L

“If you play the wrong way you deserve to lose…”

Very perceptive overview again, Richard—and I find myself in the same emotional boat. Increasingly I find myself caught in the paradox of rooting for Jackson’s narrowmindedness and self-righteousness to lose—and the team itself to win.

playdefense

Exactly. I posted this below too, but Q2 was the only quarter we actually “lost” points-wise.

Q1: GS 32-22. Q3: GS 22-18. Q4: GS 18-15.

Q2: NY 34-12. One awful quarter was enough to completely sink the ship.

thecity2

Fire Barnes.

Tired

Exactly.

http://www.alancaplan.com Alan C

As Jim Barnett pointed out last night on a play by AI (and on numerous previous occasions in previous ) a lot of the blocked shots and the failure to score when fouled around the rim, is the apparent unwillingness to put it off the glass rather than attempt to dunk.

On another note, I am annoyed that the self-proclaimed “No Excuses” coach is at the same time the “No Consequences” coach. I can imagine (with a smile) how Popavich would have addressed the failure last night, and on all too many other occasions, to move the ball, sloppy passes and dribbling, and poor shot selection. Time outs would have been called and players required to sit!

Tired

In fairness to the ‘second team,’ with Lee and Bogut out, there wasn’t much left in the paint for the Ws.
The second team thing has gotten down to either pass it to Crawford and watch everyone else stand around or pass it to someone else and watch Crawford stand around.

Tired

Yuk. Just plain crap.

Tired

You have hit the nail on the head. We are going to continue to see this sort of defense until we do something to stop it, like move the ball around.

Tired

Yep.

Tired

We gave the game away in the last 2 minutes of the first half. yes we had already lost our lead, but those last couple of minutes we a total disaster.